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Mission
Statement
The
purpose of the Thompson Family Magazine is to gather, preserve and
make available information relating to early settlers of this
country of the name of Thompson. An effort is also being
made to assemble information on persons of the name in Great
Britain at or before the period of emigration from the British
Isles. Owing
to the fact that the name Thompson is so frequently met with a
pooling of information on its members, should enable those
interested in the family history to find needed material more
readily. Not
all the material presently being assembled may appear in the
Magazine. Listings in city directories, biographical
dictionaries, town and county histories, periodical articles,
printed genealogies and other sources have been copied (frequently
by a Photostat or Xerox process, eliminating the possibility of
copyist's error) and have been added to the growing indexes to
sources of information. Material in out of the way or rarely
used sources has been added from time to time. The indexes,
which are being compiled by Mrs. Stercula, are organized by
locality as well as place and date, making it possible to more
readily identify members of the family. Material
available in printed books or which has appeared in one of the
well known periodicals devoted to local history or genealogy will
not be reprinted in the Magazine. Occasionally, a discussion
of such material may appear if additions or corrections can be
made, but the Magazine will, as a rule, only print primary source
material on the Thompson's, or information that would not be
available to most researches. The records needed by the magazine
are Family Bible records; unpublished family reports, memoirs, or
histories (especially pioneer's reminiscences); abstracts of
wills, distributions of estates or deed (or any document
containing information concerning family relationships); birth,
marriage or death records from unpublished Vital records, private
records or church records; state or federal census records;
military service records or pension applications; and immigration
and naturalization records. Vital
statistics found in old newspaper files are of great value because
very few complete files of most newspapers are readily
available. Almost none of these newspapers have indexes and
information on people mentioned can only be found through a
laborious search covering dozens of bound volumes or several reels
of microfilm. Not only can marriage and death notices (and
more rarely, births) be found in newspaper files but sometimes
very interesting biographical sketches, reminiscences or nuggets
of information helpful in adding to what is known about a long
dead member of the family. Copies
of photographs of Thompson's and Thompson descendants, and also of
places closely connected with the history of various branches of
the Thompson family, have been added to the files of the Magazine
at intervals. It is possible that some of these may be
published in subsequent issues. It
may seem to some readers that in these first months of the
Magazine's publication, an overemphasis is being put on census
records. Such records are, however, helpful to the
genealogist because they locate families at a given place and
time. Few persons were missed by the enumerators. The
1800 and 1820 census data being printed in the Magazine are the
result of long searches in unpublished and un-indexed archival
material. Although only heads of families and the age
grouping of members of their household are given, the records are nonetheless
a sort of skeleton genealogy of a whole area. They can
provide a useful framework to which other records may be added
until each household can be more readily distinguishable.
The search of the 1820 census of New York State for householders
of the name of Thompson (this search is now nearing completion)
may be particularly helpful to those needing information on the
family. Those who moved to pioneer areas in upstate New York
after the Revolution, often left within a generation for new
states in the old Northwest. Descendants of the migrating
families may find it difficult to pinpoint the temporary New York
home and the older New England residence; the listings of the New
York heads of families at a time just before the completion of the
Erie Canal caused a flood of migration to Ohio, Michigan and other
states may well be helpful to researchers. The
Magazine can be successful if subscribers and members of the
Thompson Family Association make the results of their own
researches available. It is only through sharing the results
of such investigations that a truly worthwhile file of information
relating to the Thompson pioneers can be built up. It is
hoped that the Magazine, which is now only in it's second year,
may ultimately reach a much wider circle of readers and have a
greater number of able contributors. John
D Morrell
Consultant Brooklyn,
New York
July 17, 1963
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